Update

Well, I haven't blogged have I? 

Time to make up for it now. What's happened?

I am a Nanna! My gorgeous adorable grandson is 9 weeks old. I am not sure if I am allowed to show you so I have to check. I know I am biased but he really is a cutie. Well done to my wonderful daughter and fabulous son in law.

The house we are buying is going through. We changed to a different one and there is room for the sewing machine! Happy days. Not long now. We will be in for Christmas, yay!

Speaking of which, I have been stocking the shop a bit. I made one of these tea cosies for a gift and that inspired a tea cosy mania for a little while. I think they would make a lovely gift, maybe with a teapot for that person who likes the nice homey things. My friend adored hers.

That`s only half of them, get ready, here is yet more. I am not sure how I got so excited by tea cosies, but I do.

Right, the sight of all those tea and biccies has made we want a cuppa. 

Next time baby blankets!

Will I be allowed a model, I wonder?

xXx

So what have I been Doing?

Well, I have moved house. We sold quite fast and are currently happily nestled in a rental house that suits just fine for now. I still have a sewing room but maybe not for long. We may have found the right house to suit our needing less money lifestyle (read as less pressure and stress lifestyle). Just waiting to see if it goes through. It will not have a room to dedicate to sewing, but I will manage. I did before and I will again. I actually love finding clever and innovative ways to store stuff and use my space. Keep you posted.

I have been doing some making in all this time but not sharing. How mean!

I have my first grandchild imminent any minute......literally. My daughter was due on Thursday so it really will not be long. She doesn't believe me, poor thing. I rustled up a cot quilt and bumper set for the nursery and a matching fleecy pillow. Hope you like. The beautiful knitted shawl was made by my very talented Mum who has been knitting some just lovely things for baby.

She also asked me to make some fabric buckets with some of her fabric. I love this colour combo.

There have been some crocheted blankets too but I quite forgot to photograph them. I will next time I am there.

Until next time folks. I have so enjoyed writing this blog again. Now that a lot of life's hiatus has calmed, maybe I can get back to it. Next time I shall share my non baby crochet.

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Dont Faint, I finished something!

I do have some beautiful bunnies to share but I want to wait until I have enough to open the new shop. They are coming on so well I cant wait to show you guys!
So this weekend, I decided to actually finish this zig zag quilt that I must have started this time last year. I did the machine quilting a month or 2 ago and just had the binding to do. So i stayed up last night and finished it finally.  The quilting is a bit puckery still. I need more practise. Also the band on the backing ended up a bit wonky but nonetheless I rather love it. I have to trim some threads and spotted a few pins I missed last night. But here it is whilst the sun makes a brief appearance. It was of those not really planned quilts. The majority of the fabric, was one of those 'oh i love that, I will buy it' moments and stashed away. I then saw how to make it on another blog (I cant remember who's and will add it if I do - yell if its yours!) and thought this would be the time to get out that impetuous fat quarter purchase. Its just because I wanted to make it so it doesn't matter that its a bit off perfect does it?

A Wet but Enjoyable Week

Ooops, another week gone by and no post from me.

Thanks goodness for the Craftbritannia shops of the week, or I might never post at all.  I must rectify that.  I have been away to the Peak District and despite some quite damp weather we had a fabulous time.  The Mr, the boy and myself did lots of hill walking, often in quite moist weather but we were kitted out with suitable gear and a good time was had by all.  I love a phrase I once heard that "There is  no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing!" I have to tend towards concurring. I normally hate the rain but found it quite uplifting because I was protected against the elements to a point, and the flask of tea was so nice in the wind and the rain.  I will definitely do it again.  I have very few photos as the weather was so bad but this is where we stayed. This picture shows a different sofa and dining table but it is the one, and the actual furniture was much nicer and I found it a real home from home in a very different accommodation to my own home. If you love bunnies, as I do, there were a good 5 outside the lounge on the bank at the back pretty much all day. A delight to watch. I highly recommend it and would definitely stay there again.  I have always loved a good walk, but now think I am addicted to the real stuff.

I have been knitting. I now have 2 complete Blueberry Fudge bunnies, and another almost, plus a further one on the needles. So you see, I have been quiet, but not so idle.  I hope to share these gorgeous bunnies very soon.  I am so chuffed with how they turned out.

Flowers

Short and sweet post today. I week or 2 ago I was lucky enough to receive a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I actually forgot to take a photo of them believe it or not. On their demise, I realised i really liked having fresh flowers in the house so went on  a hunt in the garden to come up with a replacement. This is what I came up with. I think I shall add some cutting type flowers to the garden this year as I am loving the whole floristry thing at the mo, even if I am not up to professional standards.  I do have one tip. Apologies if you know this. Years ago a friend did floristry and passed onto me that to replace that little sachet of feed when you either change the water or pick your own. Add a tiniest drop of bleach to the water to guard against smelly water and a bit (about half a teaspoon or so depending on your vase) of sugar to feed the flowers. It does seem to work.

Its The Little Things

Isn't it funny, how the smallest changes can make such a difference.  I inherited this futon from a boys room and put it in my sewing room, as my it wasn't wanted in there but I thought we should have a spare sleeping arrangement of some sort (OH wanted to get rid! The very idea!). It is actually really comfortable for both sleeping and sitting. The thing is , I just hated how it looked. It really jarred with my pretty lilac and cream look in there.

 So, I spotted this lovely duvet set on the Grattan website. What luck, it totally reflects the feel in my sewing room and teddy seems happy too. I now have a beautiful sofa by day and a spare bed ready to go at a minutes notice. Ok I have to pull a pillow out of the airing cupboard, but you get my drift. I can't decide whether I like the front down hiding my truck   packaging underneath.

 Or tucked in and looking more sofa like. Either way, its a great improvement on the denim homage to boyness that it was.  I must tidy up the little piles I still have to find a home for that are quite evident in these pictures.

A Good Cake Book to tell you about and its gluten free

I am a bit of a sucker for both books and cakes and was delighted to recieve this book from my daughter for Christmas. I had put it on my wishlist as I was quite interested in the health factor or if, given all the recipes contain some "vegetables". Yes, I havent gone mad, I did say vegetables.  Things such as sweet potato, pumpkin and carrot to name but a few. What I hadnt realised was that all the recipes used rice flour, so perfect for me on my gluten free diet.  I have never let wheat flour in a recipe stop me and can usually adapt, but these have been intended that way and so far, work perfectly.
 Whilst looking through this book, my husband declared it sounded awful and certainly wasnt going to eat anything from that book. Well, he tells me he never reads my blog so we will find out because I am going to tell you, he has eaten enthusiastically 2 cakes made from these recipes. He hasnt a clue they contain non conventional ingredients and I am not going to tell him. Because its good for him. If he knew, he would refuse to try them so just goes to prove how good the recipes are. 
The first was Coffee & Walnut Courage Cake, here it is before we nommed it.

 Next, I tried "Beach and a Blanket Fruit Cake"
Now it has to be said, it should have cherries and blanched almonds as well as raisins, but I didnt have any. In line with the authors approval of maverick behaviour, I had to substitute butternut squash with sweet potato, but it still was the yummiest thing I have made for ages and the raisins did not sink!!!! If you cook gluten free, you will know how impossible this is.

Now , are you intruiged? Yes? Good. The book is called "Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache" and is written by Harry Eastwood.

The above link is for the lovely glam hardback which I have. Also available to pre-order in paperback, but I have to say the difference in price makes the hardback by far nicer.  Next on my "to bake" list is the Red Velvet Cake with, you guessed it, beetroot!!!!. Will keep you posted. Also, lets see if my hubby does sneak a read and refuses to eat cake ever again on the grounds I definitely cant be trusted. If he doesnt, my secret is safe. Also, brother-in-law, if you tell on me I shall never speak to you again. You know who you are.

New Bunny

Just wanted to let you know that I have just listed a new bunny in my shop. The sharper eyed ones among you may notice she was there before. I had a lovely cusomer ask for extra clothes for her bunny before Christmas and not wanting to dissapoint, I literally sold her the clothes from Briannas back, along with Tabithas too. The poor loves have been shivering all over the last few weeks and I feel a little guilty for not finding them a wee blanket to cover them up.  Well Brianna has new clothes if Tabitha does not.  She will, dont worry. I have a couple of custom orders to sort and then she too can have new clothes.  Click on the picture to take you to her.

Find me here

Inspired by this ladys idea, I have also added to the shop a custom listing for extra outfits as it is not the first time I have been asked.

Click here to buy your bunny new clothes





This gives you 1 top and 1 bottom plus matching shoes, or 1 dress and matching shoes. it is for boys or girls and will fit not just bunnies, but any of my larger sized elephants, foxes, pandas and a knitted bear.

DIY Wrapping

I dont know about you, but I find commercial warapping paper either quite boring or if its nice (more the latter in my case) and tasteful, hugely expensive.  I hadn`t found any I liked this year and had a wrapping urge last Sunday.  So what was a girl to do with the notion in her head and the gifts ready to wrap but not tools to complete this whim?  Answer, make it yourself.  Now, last year I used brown paper and stamped it up with some tags and red and white bakers twine.  This year, no forefthought at all so had to be even more resourceful.
A good few years ago, we bought my son a huge roll of drawing paper as he was always drawing. That has stopped and I found the roll on top of the kitchen cupboard.  This I stamped with a metallic blue mandala stamp and raspberry snowflake. Tags were simply cut from some blue gingham card I had in my stash. There is always some suitably  coloured embroidery floss floating around here. That just left the tying up finishing touch. I had some hessian which wa sleft over from previous projects and cut this into strips.  Apart from that large one, which the hessian was not long enough for. This was solved with brown paper cut into strips with fancy scissors and punched with my crop o dile punch.  What do think? I even made a cute gift bag for a small gift. Obviously,  there are a few more but these give a feel of what I did.

Goodbye Summer. Hello Autumn

So, the summer hols have come to another end.  As you may know, I work in a school for my day job so I, like lots of gleeful children, get 6 glorious week off in the summer.  Now, its has to be said that the weather hasn't been fabulous but its been ok, and,  if  I am honest, I am not that bothered.  Its just nice to have time for walking, fruit picking, gardening, knitting, sewing and cooking.  Phew! how do I get time to work at all?  I do a lot of these things during term time too but just more of it in the hols. 

There is always a degree of catching up with jobs like painting  the deck and trips to the recycling centre with LOADS of weeds. I even tidied the undersink cupboard!  This is an achievement for me.

My newest passion is jam!!!  Who knew it was that easy? Who knew I would become addicted?  I have not actually bought a jar of the stuff in a whole year.  We started off with just bramble last autumn. Then rhubarb and vanilla earlier in the year when the rhubarb was reduced loads in waitrose. Same in early summer when the strawbs were going for a song.  Recently I have gone on a foraging rampage and we have apple and blackberry jam and raspberry (foraged from my own garden) and blackberry jelly.  I have even considered picking hawthorn berries for jelly as I read they are perfectly fine.

So, here is what is left of my jam cupboard she says proudly. Needless to say,  I have nommed quite a lot and various family members have made off with a jar or two. I need to get some of those pretty tops going on really.  Chutney is the next project for half term. I have a fab recipe for Christmas. I may share if you are all very nice to me.

Don't worry, there has been sewing and knitting.  I have a couple of Halloween collectibles to show off next time and have even made a lovely Christmas bear with a bit of a panda look about her. Because that IS creeping up I am afraid. Think its about 15 and a half weeks or thereabouts. 

Normal Service Resumed

Hi Folks! 
Just a quick update to say I am exhausted and rested all at the same time.  Have just returned from a week in the beautiful island of Madeira.  This is somewhere I have always wanted to go and was definitely not dissapointed at all.  When I have sorted the pics I will do a more in depth (bore you to distraction) post about my week.  I am really feeling the effects of the many uphill walks I can tell you. Lots of fantastic plants, many lizards and quite a lot of wild but very cute cats.
Some incidentals on the way which I must mention are spotting the Iron Maiden plane pulling out of Gatwick at the same time as us, that was kinda cool for an slightly ageing rocker such as myself.  During the week we realised that the team of strapping men walking into the dining room at our hotel was infact Birmingham City football team, there for a  match on the island. The Mr. was fairly happy to exchange hellos with Steven Carr as he is a former Spurs player (Mr Carr, not my Mr). Was quite surprised at the amount of fans that flew out just for the match. Not so surprised that a lot of them seemed to spend the whole time not at the match sat in the same bar! So much for absorbing some culture when travelling.  All very well behaved though, it had to said.
So, the shop is back open and the needles etc will be operational very soon when I have waded through the laundry.

Did you guess Right?

I hinted at something special happening in the household in my last post, which i hasten to add was far too long ago.  Well there has been absolutely no knitting!  In fact I had to hastily sort out a plastic lidded box to put my knitting wares in.  This is something I have been meaning to do for ages.  It only held fabric which can go anywhere. I have managed a little sewing and a third rag doll is on her way once I sort her hair out. It is being as recalcitrant, (I so love that word) as my own hair can be.

Right!  On to the reason I have been quiet..........

This little lovely is called Mango.  She is 8 months old and we have re-homed her from a lovely lady who`s cat is her Mum.  Sadly Mango and her Mum do not really get on, so she has come to live here with us.  She is mostly very good, all toilet where it should be and happy to let me sleep all night barring night one.  Obviously, still being a kitten she has her very mad moments but on the whole after a week is settling in just perfectly.
  It has been 13 months since my beloved Mr. Pip had to be put to sleep, and around 8 months since we lost little Tubby to suspected brain tumour.  These little fellas, along with their brother Felix (cant find a pic of hime but will update when i do) who has been gone a while, left a huge hole in our lives and I am sure little Mango is going to go a very long way to, not replace them, but certainly fill the holes.  BTW she came with her name and I was going to change it, but I think it has finally rolled off my tongue enough to stick.

A Finished UFO at Last. Oh boy was it a wait

I have been concentrating on getting some of those unfinished objects (UFO for all you that have not heard that term already).  Not seeing aliens spaceships.  I cut out this patchwork blanket way back in March last year after completing this one.  As usual, I got distracted by other exciting things to make and although it has been pieced for quite some time, I never quite got to finishing it. It consists of both new fabrics and some reclaimed shirting (some quality brands in there as I recall).  Now, a purchase of one piece of soft polar fleece, 70 dotty spotty buttons and only 2 evenings work, it is ready to go.  Who would have thought it was that close?  It is not a quilt per-say, but a patchwork blanket.  It is machine pieced on the front, but backed with snuggly soft polar fleece for comfort and warmth, and held together with  hand sewn buttons instead of top quilting to keep the softness of the fleece.  It just covers most of the top of a single bed and is the perfect snuggle blanket for chilly days or in the car for a little one (not under 3`s because of the buttons. I have no little ones any longer so it will be in the shop very soon.  Just need to properly measure it and price it up. Now I have to find all the receipts for all the components!  That will teach me to leave things halfway.

Imagine if you will, the look on my teenage sons` face when he came home to find this on his bed.  Not impressed, I can tell you.  Its the only single bed in the house!

I finally get the Mr. on the blog and he hides behind the quilt. Hey its a start!  Gotta love human quilt hangers.

70 hand sewn  buttons I will have you know!!!

So snuggly. I love mine on a chilly evening. ......and the odd lazy afternoon.

Gluten free Cheese scone Recipe.

Of late, we have been having homemade soups for lunch on Sundays. Preferring our roast in the evening.
This week we had Golden Ham & Vegetable.  To accompany, I made some cracking (if I say so myself) cheese scones.  I have always had trouble with gluten free scones. My regular ones are usually just as scones should be, but the GF ones end up more like rock cakes no matter what I try. So for the benefit of any other struggling gluten free cooks and myself when I cannot remember what the heck I did, i am going to share my recipe.  I am sorry but I don't do grams at home so its ounces.

8oz  Glutafin Select Multipurpose Mix  (this is the one I have used and will update if it works with another)
1 teaspoon xantham gum
2 teaspoons Baking powder
pinch salt  (omit this if you only have salted butter)
pinch cayenne pepper
2oz unsalted butter
About half a 284ml tub buttermilk
Approx 2ox grated mature cheddar cheese.

1. Sift flour, xantham, baking powder, salt and cayenne.
2. Rub in the butter until breadcrumb like.
3.Gently mix in the cheese, leaving a little for the tops.
Now carefully add enough buttermilk to make a soft but not too sticky dough. Knead a little until smoothish.
When baking normal scones it is ill advised to knead the dough very much as it makes the dough tight, but the gluten free mix does benefit from a little kneading.
4. I personally never use a rolling pin for scones. At this point, I gently press out to about 3 quarters of an inch thick and cut out with cutters.
5. Now pop on a baking sheet  (I love silicone for this as it never sticks). Glaze the top with  a light coat of the buttermilk and then sprinkle with a little cheese for a nice cheesey crust.

6. Bake at 200 degrees  centigrade for about 15 mins until risen (hopefully this wasn't a one off or I will look daft) and browned.

Let me know if you try it. I am going to see if this principle works on fruit ones this week, so watch this space.

My China Collection has Grown

This is a little tardy on my part but it took me awhile to sort my sideboard out.  My lovely but very very naughty daughter got me a beautiful vintage teaset for my Christmas present. It seems to be victorian and like most teasets minus a teapot. However there is loads of it. There are several spare saucers and teaplates in addition to what is here and I am smitten. I was when I saw it in the local indoor fleamarket and the naughty thing when back and got it for me.  I have re-organised the sideboard to display it, but think I  really should seek out a glass   fronted cabinet to keep it safe and sound not to mention cut down the need for dusting.

I also decided that as I had all the other bits in this pretty existing set in my collection, I could not leave the creamer sat in the ebay shop I got the rest from so I got my order in. Isn't it cute? Can  china be cute? Well I think so.

When one aquires stuff, one has to be inventive with the rough guides that no-one ever reads in order to keep the cakestand. I had to put a couple of random trios in the sideboard as it was.

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More Pink in the Dining Room

As threatened promised, here is a flavour of the dining room decorations.  I made this little lady at the weekend from a Tilda pattern. I am a huge huge fan of Tilda.

 

Where on the earth did those embarrassing cobwebs come from. I did not see those until I viewed the photos. Guess I need to find the old feather duster.

We have a pink and pale green flavour in here. The dining room was not meant to be pink but it just happened with my unforeseen vintage cup collection coming into play. Think you have to agree they look lovely with the sideboard. Spot the new one. Its not really vintage but it fits in so who cares, if you like it, have it I say. Within reason of course, I am always tight frugal with these things.

These pink fabric hearts and table runner were made several years ago but I never throw much out, often comes in handy.

Think I am allowed a glass of Baileys now whilst I wrap the last of the pressies.